Pallets have become a ubiquitous component of the shipping, hauling, and storing of goods. These goods include raw or bulk materials, finished industrial goods, consumer products, food, or agricultural products, among others.
One major concern with the production and sale of new pallets is the accumulation of mold, fungus, bacteria, or other microorganisms, contaminating the pallet, prior to the use of the pallet by the pallet customer for any of the aforementioned shipping needs. Pallets contaminated by mold, fungi, bacteria, or other microorganisms can possess an unpleasant odor and/or appearance, or in some cases, can spread disease or infection to workers handling the contaminated pallet or to products shipped using a contaminated pallet.
One solution that has been used is to chemically treat the newly constructed pallets. Newly constructed pallets can be treated with bleach or harsher chemicals, exemplarily tribromophenol (TBP) or copper-8-quinolinolate. However, these chemical treatments add an expensive additional step to the pallet construction process and introduces substances that are undesirable to certain pallet customers, particularly customers that ship or transport food or pharmaceuticals, or equipment used in processing fond or pharmaceuticals.
An alternative solution has been to kiln dry or “air dry” finished pallets. However, kiln drying is another expensive solution, requiring both drying equipment and the cost of energy to operate the kiln to dry the finished pallets. “Air drying” typically involves moving the finished pallets to a storage location where the pallets are dried for 2-3 weeks or more. The problems with “air drying” include issues with secondary contamination by animals such as birds or rodents that gain access to the stored pallets as the pallets dry. Additionally, the “air drying” of the pallets does not ensure that the pallets are maintained in conditions that minimize mold, fungi, or bacterial growth as the pallets are transported to the final customer.
Any of the above solutions further require that the newly constructed pallets be moved to an additional treatment location to receive the selected treatment (e.g. chemical, kiln drying, or air drying). Afterwards, the treated pallets must be moved again to the vehicle that will be used to transport the pallets to the customer. This additional moving adds further expense and time in providing a customer with new pallets.
As a final solution, new pallets can be constructed from pre-dried wood, as opposed to “green” wood that has not been dried, and therefore typically has a higher moisture content. However, pre-dried wood is more expensive and the construction of pallets with such wood does not prevent the contamination of the finished pallets during transportation.